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Bejeweled glass jars DIY

8:45 AM

Diwali is just a few days away and the time to decorate has come. In true family fashion DH and I are doing it all at the last minute. I mean we are still in the middle of cleaning the things we were supposed to start cleaning a few weeks ago.

"There is still plenty of time" we said! "We can totally wait" we said!

Until this week when it became clear that postponing the chores was no longer an option. the necessity to grab that steam cleaner and get some deep cleaning done became the need of the hour.
We are seeing the end at the light of the cleaning tunnel people! A few sore muscles later and I am about ready to victoriously throw the towel (in the laundry basket).

To celebrate, I decided to put together a non-messy craft activity (no more cleaning!) to decorate the home for Diwali :

I give you the "Bejeweled jar lanterns" (insert victory trumpet-y sounds here).
My crazy compulsion to save every glass jars and cram them in one of my kitchen cabinet made this little project completely possible and super easy to pull. If you have none lying around you can still throw a big "pre-Diwali" brunch party where all your guests will be force to ingest huge quantity of jams and chutney. Or, buy glass jars like these.

If you either are a pack rat like me or really managed to get your family and friends on your last minute jar collecting campaign, you will need to clean them. If they still have the label on, soak them in a pan filled with warm water to peel it off.
Then, raid your local art supplies and stationary shop to stock up on pretty crystal stickers :

Expert tip: take your daughter along with you to the store, she will help you find all the glittery things you might not have thought of getting. If you don't have a daughter, borrow your niece for the day (your sister or SIL will love you for it). Before leaving the store with your sparkly loot, throw in a couple of pretty metallic wire as well because those lanterns might need a hoop to hang them.

Now that you have your sparkly crystals, the fun can begin. Enlist the help of your kids, and again if you have none, enrol your nieces and nephews (you will become the coolest Aunt and the coolest sister all in one shot). Just stick all those stickers on the jars until you either run out of jars or out of sticker (both problems can of course be solved if you really want to).
Once all the jars are bejeweled, tie a length of metallic wire around them to make a handle (unless you plan to use them as a table decoration).

Ours were destined to go on the balcony, so using the wire was a must:

I used some extra (less pretty) wire to tie them to the grill on my balcony and we are already talking of making a few more. We ran out of stickers so a second shopping trip is in order to replenish our stock.
I was planning to put regular tea light candles in them, but some of them are pretty deep, and hung high up enough so I searched amazon for yellow LED tea lights that could be delivered before the 11th and I promptly bought two packs of these. Oddly enough every single shops in my neighbourhood are only selling the LED candles that change colours all the time, which is not the look I am going for at all.

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comments

That's a nice change from the electric string lights you see everywhere for Diwali. We've been having a severe fuel shortage (petrol, diesel, cooking gas) here in Nepal due to a blockade on the border between India and Nepal for the last 6 weeks.(Protesters seeking changes to Nepal’s new constitution have blocked a key checkpoint bordering India for more than six weeks, cutting off vital supplies and forcing fuel rationing across Nepal). http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/nepal-to-import-fuel-from-bangladesh-to-keep-planes-flying/Anyhoo....yesterday Nepalis were gambling & playing dice games in the street for the festival. Haven't seen many lights of any kind strung up around here due to the crisis.

I didn't get the time to follow the whole development with Nepal, but from what I heard and read it is getting really hard. I hope they solve this crisis soon with Winter coming fuel is going to be a necessity.

We are going to get some strings of lights today. I have a lot of pink ones left from 2 years ago, but I tend to use the non blinky white ones in my decor and I burned them all, so I am going to stock up. Ishita is going goo goo gaga over these plastic lanterns, so we will probably get one as well. The fabric lantern we bought two years ago is still on my balcony and really really looking faded now, we could use a change.

Thes lanterns can be done for any occasion or non occasion ;-) It just happens that Diwali is around the corner in India and it is called the festival of light, so those lanterns really fit with the theme.

I did some lanterns with jars in the past using glitter glue paint and glass paint. The stickers was just a non messy option :-) I have really been spending too much time cleaning for Diwali this past week.

Those jars are beautiful. Are you going to put candles or diyas in them? Is it safe to hang them with lights??

I went to Shridi last year during diwali. It is a small village turned town. There I saw beautiful rangoli and earthen diyas and managed to participate in a Laxmi Pooja. Very traditional and beautiful

Only simple LED lights for us that too on the last moment and a few candles. Then, of course you have to get hold of the society electrician to put on the lights, who is super busy before diwali.

We are broke by Dussera because Durga Pooja is our main festival. All the shopping is for Durga Pooja. Diwali is like double the expenditure. Then we have to tip the maid, watchman, building staff, presswala with sweets and ofcourse a few gifts for people

My son is afraid of even hand held sparklers. Last year too he warmed up to the idea of crackers a little late. Crackers are mighty expensive these days. Only a minimum costs around Rs.500/-. Brought a few. A little fascination still remains in our generation. More than the pollution it is tiring to strip the fuses of crackers so that they burn slowly and you get the chance to move to a safe distance. After some time the hands get dirty, the powder gets in the nails. The noise too is disconcerting. The inflation had already made people less enthusiastic about the festival.

I have heard that there are online poojas with graphics for those who cannot visit the a particular shrine in India all with graphic aarti and music. I guess in few years time we might have diwali phone app with digital crackers and laxmi pooja. Safe pollution free diwali.

You can put candles in those jars, but it can be difficult to light them if the jar is too deep or hung too high. Once the candle is lit and burning the jar become really hot too. this year I am going to experiment with those small LED candles, they look like candles but aren't a fire hazard. Having some mild asthma I am quite happy with the trend of buying less crackers for Diwali, not to mention my dog is terrified of them and is on edge the whole festival, I imagine my cat is too, but last year we were in Lucknow and she was being taken care of by a neighbour.

I just came back from the market as I type this, we bought more stickers to make more lanterns and a few strings of light I will put up either today or tomorrow. I will need to get a hold of the electrician to install an extra plug point for a paper lantern I bought.

I saw these ads for those "e-pooja" and I find that a bit silly, but to each its own I guess.

I will post pictures, we already tried with the LED candles, which are quite orange but still look great, and I will probably try with real candles as well later on.

I was sitting and doing my own lanterns right next to my daughter at the dinning table, so totally safe to let the kids handle glass jars there. I think once they are old enough to use a regular drinking glass made of...well glass, they can handle those jars for a craft project.

The glitter glue I usually use is the Pidilite 3D liner you find in all stationary shops and craft supplies shop, you can find a picture on a previous blog post I did about the different type of paints : http://www.homecynhome.com/2015/09/the-complete-guide-to-artists-paints.html

Alternatively, you can use acrylic paint markers to draw on glass, these come in a wide choice of colours as well.

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